Prison walls or iron bars can’t hide truth, torture or harassment can’t detain anyone for long…
That was proved on April 3, 2019 when a brave woman Nirmalakka travelled from Sukma to Kunta for two hours with around twenty journalists after her release from jail in Chhattisgarh. After 12 years in jail, she was finally acquitted from all cases. (“Framed in 157 cases, woman gets acquitted in all, released after 12 years from Chhattisgarh prison”, by Shams Ur Rehman Alavi, newsbits.in). Her family members reached Jagdalpur central jail along with court orders accompanied by lawyers.
Life of struggle
In 1989, at the age of 22, Venkatalakshmi alias Nirmala began to work among the people leaving her native place in Andhra Pradesh. In 1994, before moving to forest area of Chhattisgarh, she learned about the lives of tribals besides, she learned languages like Tamil, Hindi, Marathi , Kannada and tribal languages Gondi and Halbi and formed a political base for future movements.
She started to acquaint with socio-economic and cultural situation of the adivasis and how they are being exploited by the corporates who are occupying forests for their wealth and mining purposes. She stood by them and helped them by treating their wounds sustained in gunfire. Despite the ruthless oppression of state and ‘salwa judum’ atrocities and her failing health, she continued to provide staunch and effective leadership for the poor women with her speaking firepower.
Imprisonment
On July 5, 2007, she was imprisoned along with her husband and others. She was even subjected to torture in front of the villagers and threatened them with dire consequences if they dare to follow her.
Trial and release
She was not allowed to appear for trials in the first few years. Even in the court warrant, nothing was mentioned except her name till she protested the procedure. She used to prepare her arguments and had her lawyers argue on the notes prepared by her for ten years. She had to struggle all these years to defend herself.
At last, she was not proved guilty in any one of the cases. There was no evidence to prove her links or involvement in any terrorist or extremist violence. She was incarcerated for her ideological beliefs.
It is not that education is in crisis. Education is a crisis now. When people involved in education face problems in practicing it, it is an educational problem or educational crisis. Education as a crisis is it has become an instrument of crisis in society. How? Everyone, be it a politician, administrator, educationist, teacher, parent, student and thinker wants education to become an instrument of change and transformation, but in their own perspective and perception. Education needs to fulfill the basic material needs of an individual is one thing, a major thing, but it needs also serve the greater purpose of societal and human needs of transforming the society to another level of human development. Does it serve the purpose? It is time for all stake holders of education to reflect and introspect on it. ‘Current tragedy’ of suicides by children soon after the board examination in the state of Telangana and the places where the coaching factories operates stands a testimony of how education is posing a crisis in today’s children, parents, teachers and the society as a whole. An education which is mandated to nurture children with values and qualities to face the world with courage and determination is killing them. The recently reported number of suicides reported in the above mentioned state is about 20. This is only reported and there may be many more. Why do children commit suicide? This is an open open known fact. They expected above ninety, but failed or secured less than the expected number. Who expected – the child, parent, school, everyone in the neighbourhood and whole country? Yes, the whole country expects only above 90 and cracking the high stake examination like the NEET, IITJEE and to realise the great ‘Indian American Dream’. No one asks for how the child with her familial and school circumstances has been able to put up a brave face and cleared the examination. Everyone wants to be the first class first ranker so that they can get into the premier institutions and move to any other lucrative job giving country. Aspirations are not a crime; everyone should aspire to achieve something in life. Do we need to put our children’s life at stake and push them to end their life? The most worrying thing is nobody seems to bother about these suicides, loss of young lives. It is news, as usual, part of 24X7 breaking news. They are repeated once or twice and forgotten. Release of the highest money invested movie, slapping of a politician or an official or by someone who matters, who has twin electoral voting cards, drunken driving accidents are reported a hundred times and discussed in the ‘yelling intellectual talk shows.’ Death of 20 children after a board examination is only passing news. It appears this country has come into terms with educational suicides as normal or ‘new normal’. Even educationist and educational administrators seem to be accepting it as normal.
It is high time that the country woke to the bitter truth that our educational system has become a crisis. Children are burdened for unfounded reasons. Education has been commodified to the extent that rich get rich education and poor get poorer education. Privatization of education is the order of the day. The state where the suicides has happened has a series of residential schools where children are stressed to the extent that they have no time except studying, coaching, drilling and learning the techniques of cracking the board examination and high stake entrance examinations like NEET and IITJEE. Quarter of a century ago (in 1992-1993) as a follow up to eminent writer R.K. Narayan’s maiden speech in the Rajya Sabha the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi appointed a committee to study the burden on children under the chairpersonship of noted scientist and educationist Professor Yashpal. The report of the committee, rightly titled as, Learning Without Burden, brought out appalling condition of teaching-learning in school which burden children. There were efforts to reduce burden- no or less homework for early learning stages in primary school, reduction in the number of tests, abolition of corporal punishment, reduction of curriculum load were some of the initiatives. National Curriculum Framework – 2005 (available at www.ncert.nic.in) which is under implementation across the country has also recommended reduction of curriculum load as one of its five guiding principle. Right to Education Act 2009 (which is now diluted) also set some non-negotiable norms to make learning less burdensome for children in school. But the real stress and trauma begins in high school where learners think of or are made to think of their higher education and making a career. This is being influenced by many factors. Who decides this matter more than what the children wants to become in life. Majority of the cases it is not the child who decides what she will do in her higher education. It is the over ambitious parents, skewed society which runs after one kind of professional courses or looking forward to job outside the country. This shows that school education has failed to instill confidence in our children. The gap between board examination and the high stake entrance examinations is another major reason for this tragedy. Has education failed? No. Even it has, we ought to believe that education cannot fail. The way it is practiced has become a threat to children and society as a whole. It is high time that the governments, particularly state governments and institutions working in and for education of children in school gave a renewed thinking on the crisis. Any concerned citizen would not hesitate to suggest that there needs to be high level committee of educationist, administrators, politicians, people from judiciary, writers, thinker, artistes, students and teachers to delve deep into the problem and check the educational menace which affects the society as a whole before it (education) becomes a catastrophe.
Dr. Ramanujam Meganathan rama_meganathan@yahoo.com Associate Professor of Language Education Department of Education in Languages National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 16
New Delhi: The cow trade at a leading cattle fair in Rajasthan, India’s second-largest cattle-trading state, fell 95% over six years to 2017, an indication of the decline in cow rearing–once a popular livelihood choice–during the tenure of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In 2011, at the state’s biggest animal fair held at Tilwara in Rajasthan’s western district of Barmer, 7,430 cows were traded for Rs 1.35 crore. By 2017, the number of cows at the fair fell to 342, as revenues declined to Rs 7.3 lakh, according to official records made available to IndiaSpend.
These trends held true across Rajasthan. At cattle fairs in the state in 2018, only 500 of 2,000 (25%) animals brought were sold, Down To Earthreported in January 2019. This was a 44% fall since 2012-13, when 37,000 of 54,000 animals brought to the fair were traded.
Also, despite the BJP’s multiple official missions to protect the cow, especially vanishing native breeds, Rajasthan’s rare desert variety, the Tharparkar, moved closer to extinction over the five years of the BJP’s rule, according to an ongoing Cattle Survey started in 2017.
In arid desert districts absent of industrial activity, cattle rearing has traditionally been a lifeline for Hindus and Muslims. But our investigations across the rural areas of Jaipur, Jodhpur and Barmer showed that cow vigilantism–right-wing lynch mobs attacking people on suspicion of cow slaughter or smuggling–had terrified villagers into abandoning businesses associated with the cow.
“Around 95% villagers from the (Muslim) community in the two bordering districts have abandoned the cow business because of threats from the Hindutva brigade,” said Mohammed Isha Khan of Barmer’s Derasar village.
The cow, with a daily milk yield of around 6 litres, has lost its place as India’s primary milk provider to the buffalo, which yields approximately 12 litres. But its market value took a further blow when severe cow protection laws were brought in by BJP governments at the Centre and in states and vigilante attacks became frequent.
Between May 2014 and March 2018, 45 people were killed in cow-related violence across nine states, as per the union home ministry. Rajasthan reported seven such incidents over the same period.
From 2010 to-date, 127 cow-related attacks have been reported across 22 states, according to a FactCheckerdatabase that tracks English media reports of such violence. Over 98% of these attacks took place after May 2014, when the BJP came to power at the Centre. Rajasthan has reported 10 such attacks, the database shows–all after 2014.
Farmers who could no longer sell ageing cows to the bovine trade had to either bear the cost of feeding them or surreptitiously turn them loose. These stray cattle have ended up raiding and destroying farms. This is particularly the case in states situated in India’s heartland where the enforcement of cow protection rules has often led to violence–Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
“Stray cattle have emerged as a major issue in recent years,” Rajasthan’s additional chief secretary (animal husbandry), Pawan Kumar Goyal, told IndiaSpend. “There are 2,727 registered goshalas (cowsheds), which are not financially viable at all. They aren’t admitting any old and infirm cows or calves. These are roaming the streets and fields, harming the crops.”
The number of cows dying on India’s railway tracks increased 112% over three years to 2018, the Indian Expressreported in August 2018.
There were 2,183 cases reported across India in 2015-16 but the number rose to over 10,105 in 2017-18, a 362% rise. Most of these deaths are from the Hindi heartland, the report said, where cow protection has been a strident issue since the BJP assumed power.
In February 2019, nearly 500 cows reportedly died of starvation at the Hingonia cowshed near Jaipur. On January 23, 2019, Rajasthan’s chief minister Ashok Gehlot alleged that more than 70,000 cows died over five years from 2013 to 2018.
Pramod Jain Bhaya, Rajasthan’s gopalan (cow welfare) minister, admitted that there were several “legacy issues” the Congress government was dealing with. “On March 2, 2019, the state government had convened a conference with cowshed owners at Jaipur,” he said. “Based on their suggestions, we will frame a policy.” Rajasthan was the first state to set up a ministry for cow welfare which has now become an administrative department.
‘We will not allow them to have anything to do with the cow business’
Muslim villagers in Rajasthan’s bordering districts have, for generations, been engaged in the cattle-rearing business. Most of them are out of work now.
“Muslim families have traditionally looked after the cows with greater devotion in these areas,” said Bhuvnesh Jain, convenor of Thar Jagruk Nagrik Manch, an organisation working for the conservation of the Tharparkar breed. “They do not eat beef. But the activities of Hindu radical groups in the last five years have changed the socio-economic profile of these areas. Muslims have been abandoning the cow business to migrate to other livelihood options.”
At Sanchore in Jalore district, three incidents of cow-related violence have been reported in the last two years. Local units of the Bajrang Dal, a right-wing group, are determined not to let local Muslims return to any kind of cattle business.
“They may not be beef eaters but some of them are cow smugglers,” alleged Sant Sarvandas of the Bajrang Dal unit in Sanchore. “We have set up units with approximately 15 volunteers in each of the bordering districts to keep a watch. We will not allow them (Muslims) to have anything to do with the cow business.”
Bajrang Dal’s strategy appears to have worked. “There is no money to be made from the sale/purchase of bulls; no state protection from the Hindutva gangs,” said Mulaqat Ali, a farmer from Derasar village. “We have no alternative but to abandon the cow business.”
Dal activists are not even sparing Muslims who run cow shelters, villagers complained. “At Bhujawad village on the Jodhpur-Barmer Road, our organisation–the Marwar Muslim Education and Welfare Society–had been running a cowshed for the last 10 years,” said Shokat Ansari, the organisation’s patron. “But I had to close the business last month as hundreds of Bajrang Dal activists had started to arrive on motorcycles, issuing death threats.”
Hakam Khan of Bandasar in Barmer recounted a similar story. “Bajrang Dal volunteers have been on a rampage in recent years, preventing the sale/purchase of the male bull,” he said. “The Muslims of Rajasthan are not beef eaters but the community was still targetted. We have migrated to other business activities in order to escape the anger of these groups.”
Funds for cow welfare lying unused
In Rajasthan, the BJP government’s rhetoric on cow protection was not matched by its actions. No more than Rs 9.84 crore of the Rs 123.43 crore sanctioned for cow welfare schemes, or 8% of the amount allocated, was spent, as per this 2016-17 report of the state cow welfare ministry.
Funds for the department progressively declined: From Rs 100.39 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 13.75 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 9.28 crore in 2017-18. Major schemes, the report showed, floundered. During 2014-15, the state government sanctioned Rs 91.30 crore as grants for goshalas, but nothing was spent. The following year, Rs 3 lakh was sanctioned and again left unused. There was a small improvement in 2016-17 when against the official sanction of just Rs 3 lakh, Rs 21.63 lakh was spent.
“During the year, it is likely that the department asked for more funds in the revised budget,” said Nesar Ahmed of the Jaipur-based Budget Analysis Research Centre, a Jaipur-based think tank.
Under a scheme for the rehabilitation of sick cows, no allocations were made in 2014-15. For the next two years, Rs 2.06 crore of the Rs 7.88-crore budget was spent, approximately a third of the sanctioned sum. In a memorandum to new gopalan minister Pramod Jain Bhaya, the Rajasthan Go Gram Sewa Sangha–an alliance of 2,000 cowsheds–flagged two major issues:
In five years to 2018, the state government has not released regularly the Rs 50 lakh assured for the development of nandishalas (shelters for male bulls). The amount outstanding so far is Rs 16.50 crore;
Payments have not been released for a scheme to install biogas plants at 25 identified cowsheds.
Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje had announced plans to set up two cow sanctuaries over a 1,000-hectare plot each in Bikaner and Bharatpur districts but neither came to fruition. She also promised to develop Bikaner into a “cheese hub” and Bhilwara into a “chocolate hub” to help improve the dairy business but the plans never took off.
In December 2014, the Narendra Modi government announced a Rs 150-crore scheme for the preservation of native cow breeds. Although the Tharparkar and other desert cow breeds such as the Nagori, Rathi and Gir have been declining in numbers, the scheme was only partially implemented in Rajasthan. In its first year (2014-15), the Centre allocated Rs 3 crore for the state, but no funds were released.
“These plans have not been translated into actionable programmes because the BJP has only been interested in using the cow as a political tool,” said Poonam Bhandari, former member of the Rajasthan Go Sewa Aayog (cow welfare authority), later renamed gopalan ministry by the BJP government.
“Several cow welfare schemes were left in the lurch when the BJP was voted out of power in last year’s assembly elections,” said Otaram Dewasi, Rajasthan’s former cow minister. He lost to an independent by 10,000 votes in the 2018 assembly election.
The decline of the Tharparkar
This sturdy breed draws its name from the Tharparkar district of Pakistan bordering Rajasthan. As we said earlier, it is prized for its ability to withstand the desert heat and resistance to disease. While other indigenous breeds, such as the Nagori, yield an average 5 litres of milk each day, the Tharparkar produces 8 litres, according to Bhuvnesh Jain.
There were around 2,301 “exotic” cow breeds in Barmer and 1,637 in Jaisalmer–mostly Tharparkars–as per the 2012 Cattle Census. These numbers are likely to plunge further in the 2017 census, highly placed sources in the Rajasthan government told IndiaSpend on condition of anonymity.
“Native breeds such as the Tharparkar are close to extinction,” said Khajan Singh, director of the Rajasthan government’s gopalan department. There are multiple reasons for the Tharparkar’s decline. “Climatic change, alterations in cropping pattern (causing fodder shortage), the introduction of mechanised farming techniques such as the use of tractors and the gradual encroachment of oran and gochar lands (common grazing lands) have contributed to the gradual decline in the Tharparkar numbers,” said Lata Kachawa of the Society for Rural Upliftment (SURE), a Barmer-based voluntary organisation. “But the biggest obstacle to the survival of the Tharparkar breed in recent years has come from the cow vigilante groups.”
During late 1990s, two male Tharparkars would fetch as much as Rs 30,000 at animal fairs. “But there are no takers these days,” said Dalbir Singh of the Jaipur-based Vikas Adhyayan Sansthan, a voluntary organisation dealing in livestock research. (Jha is an independent journalist based in New Delhi.)
On the first day of Ramadan, 7th May, in Khidirpur area of Kolkata, just when it was time to break the fast, the door bell of Reyaz’s house rang and there was their neighbour aunty with a Jain thali for Iftar.
Jain Thali received at Iftar
M Reyaz, a journalist and also assistant professor at Aliah University, Kolkata tweeted about this gesture with pictures of the Thali given by their neighbour and the Iftar spread of their house. And his tweet instantly got thousands of likes and re-tweets.
Many tweeters shared their own experience of having lived in mixed neighbourhood with much nostalgia. It even got appreciation from many tweeters living in Pakistan who had heard stories of Hindu-Muslim love from their parents and grandparents who had lived in India before the partition.
Many expressed that this is the India they know and love. And want to live in.
M Reyaz told TwoCircles.net, “ The response on social media was overwhelming and I was touched by how people connected with it and appreciated the beauty of what they termed as ‘true essence of India’.”
“In these bleak times, when communal venom has spread so much, gestures like these give us hope. That is what clicked and struck a chord with people.”
M Reyaz has posted his tweet with the hashtag #knowyourneighbour which was a drive initiated 3 years back in 2016, Kolkata to get to know each other’s neighbours and promote communal harmony. A series of events have been done under this campaign and are still being conducted to encourage inter faith dialogue.
Majority of women from Narottampur village told NewsClick that they have not received any gas cylinder, nor have toilets been built under any scheme.
The Narendra Modi government’s much-hyped schemes — Ujjwala and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan — seem to have failed miserably in the prime minister’s own constituency, Varanasi. Majority of the women in Narottampur village, four kilometres from Banaras Hindu University, told NewsClick that they had not received any gas cylinder, nor had toilets been built under any scheme. A few of these women, who obtained gas cylinders, are finding it difficult to refill these owing to the high price.
Delhi: In what could be one of the most deplorable political gimmick, Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) East Delhi Candidate, Gautam Gambhir, has been accused of distributing ‘derogatory and casteist’ pamphlets against the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Atishi Marlena.
Addressing a press conference, earlier this afternoon, Atishi accused Gambhir and said that how could BJP stoop so low just to win a seat.
The pamphlet says that Atishi is a “good example of mixed breed,” was married to a “beefeater” and that she was “caught red handed while having sex in a compromising position with another teacher.”
It also contains scurrilous personal allegations of a sexual relationship between her and Delhi’s deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. It claims that “Atishi will also give birth to Sisodia’s son.”
Breaking down while reading the pamphlet, Atishi said that she was very pained on seeing it. She asked how women would feel safe if men like him get elected. “I have only one question for Gautam Gambhir. If he is doing this against one woman, what about the lakhs of women in east Delhi who are worried about their safety,” Atishi said.
Sisodia, whose image has also been tainted in the pamphlet, said, “The language in the pamphlet was so abusive and low that everybody will feel ashamed while reading it.” He further added that the last line in pamphlet clearly verifies that BJP and Gambhir is behind this shameful act. “We assure you that even if AAP and Congress join hands in Delhi, they will not win a single seat,” the last line reads.
“We never expected Gambhir to stoop so low. This can affect Atishi’s perception in the constituency. Allegations have been levelled against both Atishi and me,” he said.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has also condemned this act. He tweeted, “Never imagined Gautam Gambhir to stoop so low. How can women expect safety if people wid (with) such mentality are voted in? Atishi, stay strong. I can imagine how difficult it must be for u. It is precisely this kind of forces we have to fight against.”
Predictably, BJP and Gambhir have denied all the allegations. In a series of tweet, Gambhir said that he is ashamed to have a CM like Kejriwal. He then challenged Kejriwal saying that if he could prove BJP’s involvement then he will withdraw his candidature. He even accused Kejriwal of outraging the modesty of a woman, that also his own colleague, just to win the elections.
BJP’s Mamta Kale said, “Absolutely baseless charges have been levelled against Gautam Gambhir by AAP. AAP has a history of lying and politicising things.”
Delhi BJP Spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor condemned the pamphlet and said he cannot “assume of even speaking or writing such things.”
“The BJP has no association with the pamphlet. This is a product of the dirty tricks department of the AAP. Whenever in the last six years, they have sensed defeat, they have resorted to such tricks. From day one, Atishi was trying to destabilise the election campaign and this is one more trick,” said Kapoor.
He challenged the AAP to go to Delhi Police, to the Central Bureau of Investigation or the High Court to prove that BJP was behind the pamphlet. “Let them go to the Delhi Police, to the CBI. Let them go to High Court. If they prove we have done it, we will quit,” he said.
Earlier, Atishi, who has worked as an advisor to AAP in the Education ministry, had raised objections to Gautam Gambhir’s candidature and complained to the Election Commission that he had voter ID cards from two assembly constituencies. The complaint had been rejected.
Atishi and Gambhir are embroiled in a bitter battle for the East Delhi constituency which will go to polls on May 12 in Phase 6. Arvinder Singh Lovely is the Congress candidate on the seat.
A total of 1.8 crore voters will be voting in Haryana which is conducting the polls in a single phase on May 12. The BJP is facing double anti-incumbency in Haryana, where Manohar Lal Khattar government completes its tenure later this year. The Jat quota remains the top issue in the election in Haryana, where the caste equation has played a determinative role in polls.
As many as 223 candidates are in the fray for 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana that goes to polls on May 12.
There are 18 candidates contesting for the Ambala constituency, 24 for Kurukshetra, 29 for Sonepat, 21 for Bhiwani-Mahendegarh, 24 for Gurugram, 20 for Sirsa, 26 for Hisar, 16 for Karnal and 27 for Faridabad.
A total of 1.8 crore voters will be voting in Haryana which is conducting the polls in a single phase. Of these, 6 lakh are new voters.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had polled 34.8 per cent votes, winning seven seats, while the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) won two seats and the Congress finished third with one seat.
This time, in the fray, is also Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has entered into an alliance with Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janta Party (JJP). According to their seat-sharing strategy, the AAP is going to contest on three seats, leaving seven for JJP. At the joint press conference, Dushyant had said the two parties will fight together in the Haryana assembly polls too.
A split in INLD and the alliance between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) in Haryana are likely to result in a division of non-BJP votes in the state and hurt the Congress where it is in a close fight with the BJP in these Lok Sabha polls.
An INLD-BSP pact would have given a tough fight to the BJP, but the INLD split has changed all that. The BJP is only too pleased with the changed scenario and the Congress sees a ray of hope too.
Barring Hisar and Sonepat, the Congress and BJP are now locked in a straight fight. The INLD is in bad shape. So much so that it’s sitting Sirsa MP Charanjeet Singh Rori seems out of the contest already. In Sirsa, the contest is between state Congress president Ashok Tanwar and former IRS officer Sunita Duggal.
The BJP is confident of a good show in Haryana after winning an assembly by-poll in Jind where Congress’s national spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala was in the fray. But then, the BJP had filed Krishan Middha, the son of Hari Chand Midha, the INLD legislator whose death necessitated the byelection in Jind.
The BJP is facing double anti-incumbency in Haryana, where Manohar Lal Khattar government completes its tenure later this year. The Jat quota remains the top issue in the election in Haryana, where caste equation has played a determinative role in polls.
Jat leaders allege that the BJP government did not defend the 10 per cent quota in jobs to their community strongly enough in the Supreme Court which set aside the provision. Further, the Jats are said to be favouring the Congress and the INLD more than the BJP, which banks on the non-Jat OBC community, particularly the Sainis.
Famous political clans of Haryana will be crossing swords in polls in many Haryana constituencies this time. The third and fourth generation members of three political families of former biggies —Bhajan Lal, Devi Lal and Bansi Lal— besides the Hoodas have been fielded from various constituencies with the most direct contest between them in Hisar and Sonipat.
It is said that Chhattis biradari, or 36 communities leave together in harmony in Haryana but for this election, many are calling it 35 + 1 as Jat’s, the dominant community, could swing either way.
According to a recent survey conducted by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), better employment opportunities (44.61 per cent), agricultural loan availability (40.36 per cent) and higher price realization for farm products (33.80 per cent) were the top three voter priorities in the state.
Key constituencies in Haryana for 2019 Lok Sabha Elections
Kurukshetra Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has manoeuvred extensively through the constituency, with elaborate campaigns and public speeches from the campus of Kurukshetra University.
The seat gives an edge to BJP with over three lakh Jat voters, 1.25 lakh Brahmins, nearly 1 lakh Sainis and as many from Ror community, the descendants of Maratha soldiers who had fought in the historic battle of Panipat.
The BJP has fielded Nayab Saini from the seat.
The only threat facing the BJP in Kurukshetra is a challenge from a breakaway faction called the Lok Suraksha Party, headed by rebel Kurukshetra MP Rajkumar Saini.
Saini is looking to mobilise Dalit and minority votes, which will upset the BJP’s applecart.
During a rally in Kurukshetra on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was a victim of one-sided oppression, with the Congress hurling abuses at him all the time under the “veil of love”.
Kurukshetra picked a non-Jat MP last time. But reposing faith in Jat voters, Abhay Chautala has fielded his son Arjun Chautala. Here too, the contest is between BJP’s Nayab Singh Saini and Congress’ Nirmal Singh. After Naveen Jindal, an accused in the coal scam, refused to contest, the Congress shifted Nirmal Singh from Ambala to Kurukshetra. Saini, a minister in the Khattar government, is a winnable candidate.
Hisar Hisar is going to witness a triangular clash of dynasties. The BJP has fielded Brijendra Singh, an IAS officer and son of Birender Singh, Steel Minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet. Both PM Modi and Birendra Singh have campaigned for his son. Brijendra’s great-grandfather was Sir Chotu Ram, the great peasant leader from Haryana, and this lineage could help him.
Against him in the fray are sitting MP Dushyant Chautala of the JJP and Congress’ Bhavya Bishnoi.
Bhavya is the son of Kuldeep Bishnoi who has a reputation of joining and abandoning parties, living up to his father and former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal’s epithet of ‘Aya Ram, Gaya Ram’.
Dushyant has become the youngest MP in the Lok Sabha elections.
Hisar has three families contesting against one another. No ideology, it is sheer poll math that will work here.
Sonipat With the BJP winning the high-decibel Jind assembly bypoll, the saffron party is confident of winning the Sonipat parliamentary constituency. The Jind bypoll, which concluded in January this year is also an indication of a weak Congress in the seat with party national spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala finishing third after JJP’s Digvijay Chautala.
Again, the Jind bypoll victory was significant for the BJP, which won the seat for the first time ever, wresting it from the INLD and Congress.
At stake is the political career of two-time former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is contesting from Sonipat.
Sonepat Sonepat is seeing an exciting fight. The BJP has refielded sitting MP Ramesh Chander Kaushik in this Jat region, hoping to consolidate non-Jat votes. But with Congress fielding former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the contest has become interesting. Hooda is one of the biggest Jat leaders in Haryana.
The Congress, fighting for political survival, has fielded top leaders, who must prove their mettle. On the other hand, the JJP has fielded Digvijay Chautala. He may not win but could make it difficult for Hooda.
A former chief minister, a turncoat and a rebel scion are making for an exciting triangular contest for the Sonepat Parliamentary constituency.
“On paper, the two Jat candidates— Hooda and Chautala— are expected to fight for a share of over 6.70 lakh Jat votes while Kaushik, a Brahmin, can hope to corner a major share of about 1.50 lakh Brahmin votes. However, the actual contest may turn out to be totally different. Five out of the nine assembly segments in this constituency are held by Hooda loyalists, an important factor in determining the pull of the candidate. The JJP candidate, Digvijay Chautala, is heavily banking on the three assembly segments falling in Jind district. Chautala did well, finishing runners up in the recent Jind byelection. The BJP candidate relies heavily on the urban electorate in Sonepat and Jind assembly segments to prop up his prospects,” Hindustan Times reported.
Rohtak Meanwhile, Bhupinder Singh’s son, Deepender Hooda, is in the fray from Rohtak, and is seeking a fourth straight victory from the Hooda citadel. The Jat leader is facing competition from former MP Arvind Sharma, a prominent Brahmin leader.
Deepender has won thrice. Despite being a Jatland, it is the Yadavs, Brahmins and other non-Jat communities who have contributed to his victory in the past. But post-Jat agitation and BJP’s non-Jat politics, the equations could change.
Bhiwani Bhiwani will see a tight contest between sitting BJP MP Dharambir and Congress’ Shruti Choudhry. Former MP from Haryana, Shruti is the granddaughter of former state chief minister Bansi Lal and daughter of Tosham MLA Kiran Choudhry. In 2014, Shruti had finished third, losing out to Dharambir by a margin of 1.3 lakh votes and Rao Bahadur Singh of INLD by a meagre 7,000 votes.
The infighting in the INLD might cost them their bastion with the Jat votes splitting and going to the Congress.
In the Bhiwani constituency, Jats form the largest majority followed by the Yadavs, Brahmins, Gurjars, Mahajans and Punjabis. With the INLD in shambles and week campaigning by its offshoot, experts suggest that Jat votes will go to the Congress and the non-Jat votes will go to the BJP.
Gurgaon Three assembly constituencies of the Mewat region – Punhana, Ferozepur Jhirka and Nuh – are a part of the Gurgaon parliamentary constituency. The Mewat region is dominated by Meo Muslims and pans across north-western India, in Haryana and Alwar and Bharatpur in Rajasthan. The INLD, which had won two assembly seats in 2014 from Mewat district, are now facing a grim situation with its Meo Muslim legislators defecting to the Congress.
Meanwhile, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi campaigned on the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) grounds in Gurugram in an attempt to mobilise urban voters from the Gurgaon constituency, who overwhelmingly voted for the BJP in the previous elections.
This has also made the fight largely bipolar – between Congress candidate Captain (retd) Ajay Singh Yadav and BJP’s sitting MP Rao Inderjit Singh – both strong Ahir (Yadav) leaders. As a result, the Yadav vote is expected to split in this seat.
Minister Inderjeet Singh is the tallest leader in Ahirwal area. He was Congress MP and then BJP MP. But his long tenure may trigger anti-incumbency. Six-time MLA and former minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav is counting on Inderjeet Singh’s shortcomings but the key to the battle is Mewat, one of the most backward districts in Haryana.
The Gurgaon seat has more than five lakh minority votes. Inderjeet Singh could be in trouble should they vote en bloc. In the industrial town of Faridabad, the BJP is betting on Union Minister Krishan Pal Gurjar. The Congress is banking on old hand Avtar Singh Bhadana. It’s a fight between two heavyweights and AAP’s Naveen Jaihind stands little chance of a win.
Gurgaon, renamed Gurugram, has 21.34 lakh voters in nine assembly constituencies of southern Haryana. With total assets worth Rs 102 crore, Indian National Lok Dal’s (INLD’s) Virender Rana is the richest candidate contesting the Lok Sabha polls in Haryana from this seat.
Faridabad While the AAP did not win a single seat in the 2014 general election, it managed to garner 50,000-60,000 votes on almost all seats. Even if the party is not able to wrest any seat, it is bound to pose a serious threat to contenders in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ambala and Sirsa. AAP has fielded state party chief Naveen Jaihind from Faridabad.
The Jat community is at loggerheads with BJP on the issue of Jat reservation and the Khattar governments actions against Jat protesters during the reservation stir.
Jats, who constitute 27% of the population in Haryana, have been the politically dominant force. However, the recent chasm between Jats and non-Jats seems to have changed the social fabric and the political landscape completely.
Congress may be pegging its campaign on its ‘Nyay’ minimum income guarantee scheme and a jobs promise, but the state BJP government’s opening up of government jobs is being seen as a major achievement.
The jobs have also given heft to BJP’s accusation against the Hoodas that jobs, education opportunities and development were all concentrated in their constituencies of Sonepat and Rohtak.
Polling on 118 Lok Sabha seats will be held in the remaining two phases of the parliamentary polls that end on May 19. Voting for the penultimate sixth phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held in 59 constituencies on May 12. The BJP had won 44 of these Lok Sabha seats in 2014, 46 along with its allies.
Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a notice to the Delhi Chief Secretary and the Police Commissioner, on Wednesday, after two men died while cleaning an unauthorized 10-feet deep septic tank at an under-construction house in Rohini, Delhi on May 7.
NHRC took suo motu cognisance of this atrocious issue after there were media reports regarding the death of two labourers.
Reportedly, the labourers had initially refused to clean the septic tank as they were not trained in such kind of work. However, they were then threatened by the mason and the house owner that if they do not work as per their conditions, they will not be given wages for three days. Left with no option, the labourers agreed to do the work. In all, five men were affected of which two died after inhaling the poisonous fumes while the other three fell unconscious. They are still battling for their lives in the hospital.
According to the police, the incident took place around 1.30 pm when 35-year-old Ganesh Saha, along with Deepak Lambu, 30, both contractual workers, went to Bhagya Vihar in Prem Nagar to clean the tank. The three others, identified as Rambir, 37, Sher Singh, 40, and Babloo Kumar, 40, accompanied them.
A police officer, on condition of anonymity, said, “ Local residents told the police that while cleaning the tank, Saha and Lambu fell unconscious. Their three friends raised an alarm, called the locals and went inside to pull the two men out. They too fainted in the process. Local residents then got together and pulled the five men out. They were taken to a nearby hospital where Saha and Lambu were pronounced dead on arrival. The other three were referred to Sanjay Gandhi hospital for treatment. Babloo’s condition is critical.”
Local residents have alleged that the house owner, Gulam Mustafa, had delayed pulling out the bodies of Saha and Lambu, which led to their death.
Deputy commissioner of police (Rohini) SD Mishra said a case had been registered under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code, Section 3(J) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and under Section 5/8 of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers & Rehabilitation Act.
Lashing out at the Delhi government over its callous attitude, NHRC has asked for details regarding the issuance of any guidelines for prohibiting unauthorized construction and cleaning of septic tanks. Further, it has directed the government to provide proper instructions to deal with the issue.
NHRC has also condemned the attitude of the people gathered around the incident area and have called their inaction, citing that the labourers were untouchables, as ‘uncivilized.’
NHRC has called for a detailed report in the matter within six weeks.
Last year, at least 10 workers died in the Capital in such incidents. In September, six workers were killed while cleaning sewage tanks in west Delhi. In April last year, three workers died while cleaning a sewage treatment plant at a hotel in Delhi’s Khan Market.
There have been numerous such barbaric incidents across the nation in the past as well. Many labourers have lost their lives due to the presence of the irrational system of ‘caste-based profession.’ Stigmatized employment continues to be a part of our working sector. However, it is high time that we take action to overcome the centuries-old injustice meted out on our labour class.
